MY ACCOUNT
A weakened Milan side were held to a 1-1 draw in Serie A by Bologna at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.
With their focus clearly on the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie with Napoli, Stefano Pioli’s side made 10 changes and fell behind to a Nicola Sansone strike inside the opening minute.
The early goal sparked some life into Milan’s understudies, with Tomasso Pobega’s fierce strike levelling the scores before the break.
Neither side could find a winning goal in the second half, with honours even and a result Bologna will be happier with.
Milan heavily rotated from the opening leg win against Napoli, only Mike Maignan retaining his spot between the posts, and he was picking the ball out the back of the net after just 33 seconds when Sansone met Stefan Posch’s low cross and smashed home.
The visitors responded strongly, dominating possession, with Ante Rebic heading straight at Lukasz Skorupski before the Bologna shot stopper was forced into a diving save from Alessandro Florenzi’s curling free-kick.
Milan’s equaliser came five minutes before the break, Bologna unable to clear their lines properly and Pobega unleashing a fierce shot that cannoned off the inside of the left-hand post and into the back of the net.
A much quieter second half saw limited clear-cut opportunities for both sides, with Milan’s attempts to pepper Skorupski’s goal seeing a number of efforts fail to provide any sort of threat to the Polish keeper.
Rebic came closest to an equaliser, though not through skill as the chance instead saw an attempted clearance strike his head but fly wide of the mark, much to the relief of the home side.
What does it mean? Milan minds elsewhere
With a slender 1-0 advantage against Napoli in the Champions League quarter-finals, it was not surprising that Milan rested all their outfield starters and were not at their best as a result.
While Bologna’s winless streak against Milan now stands at 15 matches, the hosts picked up only a third draw in that sequence – losing the other 12 – and it could be a result that comes back to haunt Milan.
Though Pioli’s focus is on this season’s European campaign, Milan could now finish the weekend outside of the top four having handed encouragement to both Inter and Atalanta.
Pobega pulls the strings
Scoring the equaliser, only his second league goal for Milan, Pobega was the stand-out performer for Milan in an impressive display.
Pobega topped the team standings for shots (four) and tackles (five), while only Fode Ballo-Toure (78) and Pierre Kalulu (72) had more touches of the ball than Pobega (67).
Bologna blow
Scoring after just 33 seconds, Bologna could not build upon their advantage and failed to truly test Maignan any further.
Having been held to a draw, Bologna have now lost 22 points from winning positions in Serie A – more than any other side.
Key Opta Stats: One win in six for Milan
– Milan have failed to win five of their last six Serie A matches (D3 L2), after having won each of their previous three.
– This was the home game in which Bologna conceded the most shots in Serie A with Thiago Motta in the dugout (19).
– Sansone has scored his joint-most Serie A goals against Milan: five, as many he has netted against Inter – in fact he has scored 26 per cent of his goals in the competition against the two Milan sides (10/38).
– He also equalled Gregoire Defrel as the player who scored the earliest goal against Milan in a Serie A match since Opta started collecting this data (2004-05): both 33 seconds.
– Pobega has scored an away goal in Serie A for the first time since May 2021 (a brace against Sampdoria) – each of his next six goals scored in the competition prior to this arrived in home matches.
What’s next?
Milan will look ahead to Tuesday’s Champions League tie away against Napoli, while Bologna are back in action on Friday against Verona.
